<div>Engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) reported a tepid 6.87 per cent increase in consolidated net profit on Friday at Rs 861.75 crore in the September quarter due to subdued sales from its power and hydrocarbon verticals.</div><div> </div><div>The company had reported a Rs 806 crore net profit in the year-ago period after tax, minority interest and share in profit of associates, it said in a statement.</div><div> </div><div>The company's consolidated revenue rose by 10.60 per cent to Rs 21,159.35 crore from Rs 19,130.77 crore in the same period during the last fiscal year. </div> <div> </div><div>"Sales growth is a reflection of low activity and challenges in execution in the prevailing market conditions. There has been an improvement in the environment, but the real push from growth-oriented policy initiatives taken by the government will take time to translate into ground reality," L&T's Group Chief Financial Officer R. Shankar Raman told reporters in Mumbai.</div> <div> </div> <div>He said that revenues during the quarter were boosted mainly due to better performance in infrastructure and developmental projects.</div> <div> </div> <div>The infrastructure segment achieved a revenue of Rs 9,633 crore, registering a growth of 27 per cent, driven by a surge in execution by all businesses of the segment, while international sales constituted 27 per cent of its total revenue, Raman said.</div> <div> </div> <div>"Higher revenues in the infrastructure segment is on the back of large order book. We are executing across business verticals. The subdued growth in sales reflects lower activity levels and challenging execution in power, metals and hydrocarbon sectors," he said.</div> <div> </div> <div>The developmental projects segment recorded a revenue of Rs 993 crore, reflecting an increase in developing and operating infrastructure as well as power generation assets sales, mainly due to divestment gains, besides commencement of commercial production at the 1,400-MW Rajpura power plant.</div> <div> </div> <div>Its power segment sales declined 20 per cent to Rs 1,153 crore from the corresponding quarter of the previous year, due to a majority of newly secured orders being at initial stages of execution.</div> <div> </div> <div>"There has been a modest pick in the order inflow in the investment started power sector over the past period. As the projects on hand start getting completed, revenues will decline to that extend going forward," Raman said.</div> <div> </div> <div><strong>Decline in Hydrocarbons Business</strong></div> <div>The hydrocarbons business sales also declined 24 per cent to Rs 1,804 crore registering a decline of 24 per cent over the corresponding quarter of the previous year mainly on account of low opening order book and deferment of project awards. International sales constituted 61 per cent of the total revenue.</div> <div> </div> <div>"We, however, expect order inflow to pick up in the international market, resulting an improvement in sales," Raman said.</div> <div> </div> <div>The revenue from the metallurgical and material handling segment saw sharper decline to the tune of 32 per cent at Rs 778 crore, while income from heavy engineering business came down to Rs 810 crore, and sales from the electrical and automation segment remained flat at Rs 1,213 crore.</div> <div> </div> <div>Income from IT and technology services increased to Rs 1,854 crore during the quarter while the financial services segment recorded revenue of Rs 1,604 crore, driven by growth in loan book and disbursements.</div> <div> </div> <div>The company secured fresh orders worth Rs 39,797 crore during the quarter, registering a growth of 17 per cent. The global order inflow stood at Rs 6,756 crore constituting 17 per cent of the total order inflow.</div> <div> </div> <div>Major orders during the quarter were secured by the infrastructure, power and hydrocarbon segments.</div> <div> </div> <div>Consolidated order book of the group stood at Rs 2,14,429 crore as of September-end, higher by 14 per cent on a year-on-year basis. International order book constituted 27 per cent.</div> <div> </div> <div>"Order inflow from the domestic segment during the quarter was nearly 83 per cent, which signals early trend of opportunities in domestic market," Raman said.</div> <div> </div> <div>(PTI)</div> <div> </div>
